Am I missing something?
It seems like magic is woefully shortchanged in MM9.
For one, spells just don't seem very powerful, especially low-middle ones.
For another, it takes quite a while before you can get even mid-level spells (due to where they have put the magic promoters, and the promotion levels needed).
At this point, I have a L20 party, first promotion quests done.
Up until now, I've used almost zero magic (other than healing). Things like elemental bolt just seem so bloody wimpy - my initiates could do about that damage using their staves, and that was quicker\didn't use up mana.
Even now, I still don't see a huge plus for it. Mid-level spells look to have a bit more punch, but the mana cost seems quite high by comparison.